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TMNT Classics Bebop and Rocksteady Toys R Us exclusives

I was very lucky to fall into the brand new TMNT classics Bebop and Rocksteady just a few days before Thanksgiving. I will never understand the mentality of releasing toys the week of Thanksgiving or Christmas, it’s infuriating when you collect modern toys and one of the many reasons I don’t chase down toys at retail anymore. This was one of those exceptions for sure. While I didn’t pick up the turtles I had made plans to get Bebop and Rocksteady from the moment they showed the production samples. I had my pre-order in with one of the major online retailers but when my order was cancelled (due to it being announced as a TRU exclusive) I knew I’d find myself wandering the aisles of Toys R Us with other forsaken man-children like myself. One good thing about the local TRU near me is it’s rarely busy with other collectors so if there’s something I want I can get it with little to no struggle which is good, after the 2nd strike out at retail I either give up looking for the figure or contemplate making an eBay purchase.

Rocksteady

Rocksteady comes in 6 inch scale with ample amounts of articulation, detail and decent paint applications. He also comes with updated reproductions of the original weapons he was packaged with in the late 80s; a military knife that would make Crocodile Dunee proud and some kind of automatic assault rifle that you’d expect to see Terry Crews carry in the Expendables movies. In fact, after mentioning that I would love to see Crews play Rocksteady, someone in Hollywood make this happen for me. Anyways, he comes with the standard display base with Rocksteady printed on it. the figure is a great mixture of 3 sources of media; the TMNT comic book, cartoon and original Playmates figure. The package is even embossed with the statement “inspired by the 1988 release”. The face sculpt really stands out on this figure, it’s probably my favorite part of the whole toy. The only fault I really found with him was the goggles weren’t painted on his helmet like they were in the production samples but the helmet is removable with for me kind of balances out that flaw.

Bebop

Bebop was my favorite of Shredder’s bungling henchmen. I was always drawn to the really rebellious punk look about him with his signature purple mohawk and matching sunglasses set him apart from Rocksteady. Bebop is reimagined in 6 inch scale by taking the best of what made him visually stunning in the TMNT comics, cartoon and Playmates figure. Bebop also has roughly the same range of articulation that Rocksteady has. He’s looks a great deal bulkier than Rocksteady and comes with a reproduction of his signature drill gun. Sadly, Playmates omitted his other weapon from his debut figure; the trash can lid shield. While for most people it won’t cause too much of a big deal to die hard fans it’s kind of a glaring omission. I guess becuase he’s a hair broader than Rocksteady they decided to do without the shield, for $20 I guess I expect too much. It’s still a great figure either way.

I know I said I didn’t get the turtles and I still don’t plan on getting them any time soon unless they are on the cheap side. Roughly 2/3 of the ones I found at retail had off-centered eyes; they were either lazy eyed, cross eyed or wall eyed. The only “perfect” ones I found were at conventions and I wasn’t willing to pay 30% over retail to get better painted ones. Even at that the turtles a friend of mine got suffered from Marvel Legenditis, where the knee or ankle joints (or both) got weak and couldn’t support the weight of the figure. I have an intolerance to figures that collapse for no reason, especially when they “domino” other figures along with them. It’s part of the reason I don’t own Marvel Legends figures anymore (the other part was they were worth a ton of money and I was between jobs so they had to go). Anyway, even with the heafty price tag of $19.99 each at Toys R Us ($22.99 in some markets, check your local one for pricing) they are totally worth picking up and I don’t get excited by modern figures much anymore unless they are imports or some kind of special release. Good for fans of the OG series and people just picking up on how cool TMNT is.